January 2, 1915 



HORTICULTUEE 



Helleborus 



The Helleborus, or Christmas-rose, belonging to the 

 order Ranunculaceae. possesse? a charm of its own. 

 It is the only winter-flowering garden perennial we 

 have. As a genus comprising about a dozen species in- 

 habiting the tempei'ate zone of the eastern hemisphere 

 one of its distinct characteristics consists of dark-green 

 leathery, palmate or pedate foliage of extraordinarv- 

 resistence and marked ornamentality. Likewise do the 

 large flowers of greenish, yellow and purple shades 

 arouse our interest. A world-wide distribution and a 

 general popularity in American gardens, however, is 

 enjoyed only by the well known Helleborus niger, pi-o- 

 ducing flowers from two to three inches across. Their 

 color, when gro\ra under glass, is pure white; outdoors 

 the petals appeal- frequently more or less rosy margined 

 or suffused. Your correspondent had the opportunity 

 last Christmas to admire several large specimens in full 

 bloom in a Germantown (Pa.) garden. The beds and 

 borders under the customary cover of leaves and ma- 

 nure indicated nature at rest, but the mild weather had 

 induced the liglitly protected climips of Helleborus niger 

 to send up thi'ough the covering a number of beautiful 

 blossoms in rare perfection. At this time we are apt to 

 be particularly appreciative, accepting them as a valu- 

 able gift and as evidence of the wonderful floral possi- 

 bilities of the herbaceous garden. 



Helleborus prefers a rich loamy soil, moist but well 

 drained and thrives best in lightly shaded positions. 

 Established plantations of Christmas roses along a path 

 through wooded sections of park and home grounds 

 flower most freely in March revealing the man-elous 



resourcefulness of Nature in gratifying beauty-loving 

 human eyes. We sliould use them oftener than we so 

 far have done. 



We know hellebonis to be inclined to self-hybrid iza^ 

 tion in a wild state of growth. Of the growers who 

 have given their attention to crossing Christmas roses 

 Froebel in Zurich, Switzerland, and Heineman, Erfurt, 

 Germany, yeare ago were remarkably successful. I do 

 not know at this writing how many garden vai-ieties of 

 very attractive pink, red, violet and purjjlc shades, of 

 tlieir introductions, are still obtainable. In Eurojjean 

 gardens ten to fifteen years ago they were extensively 

 cultivated in pots under glass. All could be brought to 

 full bloom by Christmas ajid proved verv popular. In 

 America we have confined ourselves princi])ally (o the 

 growing of the original white type of Hellebonis niger 

 depicted as a ])ot-plniit by our cover ilhistration. I believe 

 it to be remunerative for some of us to take up the grow- 

 ing of the best hybrids for pot sales at the Christmas 

 holidays. The greenish flowering species such as Helle- 

 borus caucasicus. foetidus, lividus, odoratus a.nd viridus, 

 as well as the purplish kinds — colchicus. purpurascens, 

 olympicus and orieiitalis, are of interest to botanists and 

 colj[ectors. 



In the Middle Atlantic States the leaves from the 

 trees above held on the ground between the plants by 

 their evergreen foliage prove sufficient protection. The 

 rigid northern winters, of course, call for heavier cov- 

 ering. Hellebonis may be raised from seed which 

 should lie sown right after ripening, or propagated by 

 division. 



Glenside, I'a. 



-^ceAx^/u;^ ~S8(M^ 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 



Perpetual Flowering Carnation Show. 



The Perpetual Flowering Carnation 

 Society which is still "going strong,' 

 held its seventeenth show recently at 

 the Koyal Horticultural Hall, London. 

 There was a falling off in the number 

 of entries as compared with the pre- 

 vious year. A high standard of excel- 

 lence was observable in the exhibits. 

 C Engelmann, who has come to the 

 fore as the raiser of several prime 

 favorites, secured the chief award in 

 the class for three vases of American- 

 raised novelties, winning the chal- 

 lenge cup given by the American Car- 

 nation Society. The blooms included 

 Enchantress Supreme, Gorgeous and 

 Peerless. Wells & Co. staged some 

 fine specimens of Champion, a scarlet 

 variety, whilst .AUwood Bros, ex- 

 hibited the pale pink Enchantress Su- 

 preme. The last named with some 

 excellent samples of Princess Dagmar 

 won the challenge cup offered by Pat- 

 ten & Co., of Tewksbury, .Mass. Two 

 new varieties received certiHcates ot 

 merit — Delice, a pink variety of the 

 Enchantress type, shown by H. Uud- 

 ney, and iN'ova West, salmon pink 

 with petals ot good substance, shown 

 by Mr. West. 



Honors for Horticulturists. 



The new recipients of the Victoria 

 Medal ot Honor are Capt. v\ . Stack- 

 house, Mr. C. Pinwill, a Cornish ama- 

 teur who is a collector of rare plants 

 and liberal distributor of them; Mr. 

 Joseph Cheal, Lowheld Nurseries, 

 well known to many American and 

 Canadian horticulturists: -Mr. Why- 

 tock, gardener to the Duke of Buc- 

 cleuch, and .Mr. W. Cuthbertson, of 



seedsmen, Edin- 



Messrs. Dobbie & Co., 

 burgh. 



National Dahlia Society. 



The annual meeting ot this society 

 was recently held in London. Not- 

 withstanding the setback sustained 

 this year owing to there being no au- 

 tumn show at the Crystal Palace, the 

 balance sheet showed a surplus. The 

 following officers were elected: Presi- 

 dent, fteginald Cory: chairman ot 

 committees, J. Cheal; treasurer, John 

 Green (Hobbies, Ltd.) ; 

 superintendent, G. L. 

 retary, J. B. Riding. 



honorary show 

 Castleton; sec- 



SEEDLING CHRYSANTHEMUMS VS. 

 NAMED VARIETIES. 



Editor HiiUTierLTUiii:: 



I was interested in your notes on the 

 compai-ative excellence of seedling 

 single early chrysanthenuims and the 

 varieties introduced under name. I 

 cannot quite agree with your editorial 

 wherein you said that as good varie- 

 ties could be grown from seed as could 

 be found among the expensive named 

 varieties. Of course, all the existing 

 named varieties were procured from 

 seed — possibly a few from sports — and 

 as the hybridizing of single varieties 

 has only become popular these last ten 

 or twelve years, it is possible, occa- 

 sionally, to get an improvement among 

 a lot of seedlings. Such varieties as 

 Caledonia, Peter Plant, Joan Edwards. 

 Fair Rosamond, in pink; Mensa, Agnes, 

 Gladys Duckliam, R. B. Burge, in 

 while; Robert Milner, E. Nottcll, Jose- 

 phine, Golden Mensa, Margaret Totty, 

 in yellow; Miss Hilda Wells. Jessie 

 Curtis. Firelight, The King. Mrs. Foot, 

 Sylvia Slade, Ronpell Beauty, in shades 

 of red : Caterham Bronze, Sundown 



Radiance, Mary Richardson, Dorothy 

 Dann, Merstham Jewel, in different 

 shades of bronze, would, in my opinion, 

 be impossible to get in a lot. of say, a 

 few hundred seedlings. When we con- 

 sider that one large grower in Eng- 

 land who grows ten to fifteen thou- 

 sand seedlings, and possibly has as 

 many more grown by others for him 

 to select from every year, and that 

 last year he had only one variety that 

 he considered was an improvement 

 and worthy of being named and intro- 

 duced among the named varieties, 

 you will see that the ordinary grower 

 with his few hundred seedlings stands 

 a very small chance ot producing many 

 inize winners in one season. 



While on the subject of single 

 chrysanthemums, I would say that the 

 difficulty of shipping the flowers in 

 good shape is against their popularity 

 with the trade. The commercial 

 grower wants the varieties that have 

 a number of rows of petals, and in- 

 curve at the lip of the petals, whereas 

 the most graceful varieties have not 

 more than two rows of petals and they 

 point straight out or reflex a little, and 

 of course such varieties do not ship 

 well. J.\MEs Stiaht. 



.Mamaroneck, N. Y. 



New York — The transportation com- 

 mittee of the N. Y. Florists Club hav- 

 ing in charge the matter of the trij) to 

 the American Carnation Society's 

 meeting in Buffalo, Jan. 27, are endeav- 

 oring to make arrangements so that 

 the possible exhibitors may be able to 

 take their flowers with them on the 

 same train that they will go on to Buf- 

 falo. This will be a great convenience 

 and they will be assured of the arri- 

 val of their exhibits on time. 



